Villa The Villa of John Elsce, Esq. Chigwell Row Published by J. Watford #2. Holborn Hill. Sopl* 22a1810. stands at the east end of the row, and commands a beautiful and extensive view of the Kent and Surrey hills, the river Thames, &c. The house was built by Mr. Horsley, and afterwards possessed by Mr. Scott*, an eminent attorney. The present possessor purchased it, with the lands attached, a few years since, and has made considerable improvements on the estate, as well by a judicious management of the soil, as by the addition of large purchases of land in the neighbourhood. Chigwell Row contains also the mansions of several eminent merchants and traders of London. A neat chapel has been lately erected, which saves the inhabitants of Chigwell Row the inconvenience of walking nearly two miles to the parish church. LOUGHTON, is eleven miles from London, in the road to Epping, and was one of the seventeen lordships belonging to Waltham Abbey. LOUGHTON HALL is the seat of Miss Whitaker; and GOLDEN HILL, in the same parish, of Mrs. Clay. Here is an antient building, called Queen Elizabeth's Lodge, said to have been a hunting seat of that princess. It is the property of William Heathcote, Esq. and is occupied by his gamekeeper. CHINGFORD, has been denominated in antient records,CHINGELFORD, and sometimes SHYMGILFORD. Edward the Confessor gave this lordship to the church of St. Paul, London, which in the time of the Conqueror's survey held it for one manor and six hides; from which manor however, according to that record, Peter de Valonys took one hide, eight acres of meadow, and so much wood land, as was sufficient to feed fifty hogs; and Geoffrey de Mandevile ten acres of meadow. But this grant must be meant of a manor in Chingford, and not of the head manor there; for by the register book belonging to the church of St. Paul, it appears that the * A dreadful calamity attended this family. Mrs. Scott was found one orning drowned in a pond upon the estate; and such was the effect it produced upon the mind of her husband, that in a few days after he precipitated himself into etcraity by plunging into a pond adjoining that in which his wife had put a period to her life!!! 2 parish parish church of Chingford did not stand on their manor, but on the lordship or manor of Chingelford, which was in the beginning of the reign of Henry III. part of the possessions of Richard de Chilham, alias Dovor, by the marriage of Rose, the daughter and heir of Robert de Dovor. This manor descended by marriage to John earl of Athol, in Scotland, whose wife was Isabel, sister and heir of Richard de Chilham; but he 'forfeiting it by treason 34 Edward III. that king gave it to Ralph de Monthermer, earl of Gloucester, who resigned it afterwards to David, the son of earl John, upon such a composition, that the king confirmed it to him and his heirs; then it came to Giles lord Badlesmere, and from him by a daughter to William lord Roos, of Hamelake, whose family enjoyed it for some descents, till Eleanor, the daughter of Edmund, the last Jord Roos, passed it by marriage to Robert de Manners, the ancestors of the duke of Rutland. From him it is probable this manor was called Earls Chingford; as the other, for distinction, bears the name of Chingford St. Paul. Dr. James Marsh, of Merton College, in Oxford, was rector of this parish anno 1630. He was afterwards archdeacon of Chichester, and dying in 1643, his archdeaconry was given to the excellent and learned man Dr. Henry Hammond. In this parish is an old mansion, called FRIDAY HILL,* which for a long period was the residence of the family of Boothby. The parish Church, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, is a small structure of flint and stone; and, being covered with ivy on the south and east sides, forms a very picturesque object. There are no monuments of particular note. BRINDWOODS, an estate held under the rectory, had the following singular tenure: "Upon every alienation, the owner of the estate, with his wife, man servant and maid servant, each single on a horse, come to the parsonage, where the owner does his homage and pays his relief, in the * Probably so called on account of being in the Saxon times dedicated to Friga, one of the deities worshipped by that people. following |